Seduction of Power
by Musik2400
Summary: Leonard was always an outcast in school and at home, but he couldn't have even guessed how much of an outcast he truly is. As he goes throug high school, and finallly comes into his own, his life gets turned upside down. Gay Fiction.
1. Chapter 1

Warnings: This story does indeed involve man on man love, so if thats not your thing, leave now. There is nothing really naughty or dirty yet. All Original Characters. Please read and review.

Growing up I had always known that I wasn't exactly "normal", but I never could have predicted how spot on my feelings were. Not only was I not "normal".. I was about as far from it as you can possibly get. It seemed as if every single time I came close to fitting in, I would discover something new that set me apart once again. I guess though, that I should start at the beginning.

It all started when I was 14. I was your average scrawny timid little bully magnet. I didn't really have any friends to speak of, in fact most people didn't even know my name. Its Leonard by the way, but please, call me Leo. Aside from the fact that I seem to be socially inept, I'm pretty average. At least I thought I was. I have medium length light brown hair, and dark green eyes. I have a heavy spattering of freckles on my cheeks and nose, and a very young boyish face. Did I mention I was a bully magnet? Not only at school either. I had 3 older brothers at home, all who loved to make my life a living hell. If I wasn't being tricked into being their crash test dummy, I was being used as their tackling dummy. The only time they were nice to me was when they wanted something from my parents, it being my duty as the cute youngest child to work our parents. Looking back though, I'd trade everything I have now to go back to that simple life.

It was my first day of grade 9, and I was totally NOT looking forward to it. My step- brothers Chuck and Steven , the twins, were in grade 11, and my other brother Kyle was in Grade 10. See my mom died when I was 6, and since then my Dad remarried, and I got stuck with the twins. Before they came into the picture Kyle and I got along really well, but they liked him a lot more than they liked me, so he decided to take their side, leaving me all alone to be tormented. Unfortunately this included the 10 minute wait for the bus at the end of our lane. See had I gotten along with my older brothers I would have been totally excited for high school. Chuck and Steven were your average perfectly sculpted high school handsome jocks who all the girls loved, and all the guys idolized. They were both on the football team, and had managed to get Kyle on the wrestling team too. He looked more like me, but without the freckles and the boyish face. He got my dads looked, and had a pretty well sculpted jaw line, and even at 14 was already shaving every day. He had made it onto the track and soccer teams on top of football. Then there was me. I was such a klutz that I could injure myself just getting out of bed. I had good grades, and I liked to ct and sing but… in a house dominated by testosterone… that didn't account for much.

When the bus pulled up I felt my heart drop. I really didn't want to do this. Secretly I was hoping some greater power from above would smite me the second I stepped foot on that bus… unfortunately I boarded unharmed. I slipped quietly into the first empty seat I saw as my older brothers passed me, and quickly went about trying to blend into the material. The bus rumbled and shook uncomfortably, and was unbearably loud. Above all other voices I could often times hear my older brothers. Life of the party those three. Then there's little old wallflower me. Mercifully, after about 45 minutes, the bus rolled to a stop, and kids started to pour out. As soon as I exited the yellow abomination I looked up at the school. It was huge. It had to be at least 7 floors high, and I swear to god it took up at least 100 city blocks. Well maybe it wasn't quite THAT huge. I later realized it was only 3 floors, and only covered about 30-40 acres. But I was in grade 9. To me I was about to get lost in a high school the size of a small country.

"Luckily" for me however, my dad had instructed my older brothers to all help me find my way around, and to keep an eye on me till I settled in. he had forced them to promise that they would help me out for the first couple weeks, introduce me to people, show me around. All that fun stuff. I wasn't any more thrilled than they were.

I waited on the sidewalk till my brothers got off the bus. Kyle and Chuck passed by me while Steven shoved me forward, telling me to hurry up. I did as I was told and jogged to catch up with the other two, walking timidly between them. Our first destination was lockers. All four of us had ended up right near each other, since they were sorted alphabetically. When we got there I unloaded everything into my locker except my timetable and my binder.

"All right twerp. What's your first period?" Chuck asked me as he opened his own locker, tossing his backpack inside.

"Umm… it says Math with… Ms. Dagger?" I said nervously.

"Oh have fun with that one," said a familiar voice from behind me. I turned around to see the only person I was actually looking forward to seeing today. Viktor was a grade eleven guy who's Mom had been close with mine in high school. As a result we pretty much grew up together, and I saw him as much as Kyle up until I was about 7, when he stopped visiting as often. Him and Kyle had stayed friends though, and he was on the football team with Chuck and Steve. Whenever he did come over to visit nowadays he was the one who protected me from my older brothers. He had promised to spread the word among his friends that I was to be looked after. Vic was the older brother I always wished I had gotten.

"Daggers a real hag kid. Just keep your head down and try not to make eye contact and you'll be fine," he advised, putting a hand on my head and ruffling my hair. "I actually got Spanish right above there, I can take ya if you want," he offered. I looked questioningly at my brothers, as if pleading for their permission.

"Hey, less we gotta deal with him the better," Steven shrugged, as he closed his locker., waving me off with his hand. Clearly the other two agreed, so Vic and I headed off.

"Sorry they're so mean to ya bud, but don't let em get you down. I got your back. So what's next after math?" He asked as we snaked our way through the crowded hallways. Every once in a while he would sep in front of me to block someone from stepping into me or knocking me over as we walked.

"Umm… it says Boys' PE 2... What's that mean?" I asked examining my schedule.

"Oh that. Ya see the school has a pretty lame budget, especially when it comes to our phys ed department. We only have 2 gym teachers too. So in order to make it easier for everybody they take all the guys from grade 9-12, and put them mixed u into one gym class. Same with the girls. That way there's one boy's class and one girls' class running every period. It also helps cuz then the older kids help the teachers out by being sort of babysitters for the younger kids."

I choked back a hard swallow. My second period was going to be spent among not only grade 9's, but 10's, 11's, and 12's too? Could my life get any worse?

"Well here we are Leo. Sit near the back and just try not to draw Dagger's attention too much. I'll ask around, I know one of my buddies has PE 2.. I'll get him to swing down here and take you to your next class okay? Don't worry, I'll make sure you got people looking out for you." He smiled, and then quickly disappeared into the mess of people. I looked up at the door and let out a heavy sigh as I entered the classroom… or as I would soon come to call it, the seventh circle of hell.

Luckily since it was the first day and all, it wasn't too bad. Dagger didn't know yet who the class clowns were going to be so she wasn't especially harsh to anyone. We didn't get slammed with a lot of homework or anything either, and spent most of the class introducing ourselves and talking about our plans for high school. Gag me. Pretty soon though the bell rang and it was time for morning break. I walked out to the hall and looked around, trying to see Vic or one of my brothers. No such luck. And nobody introduced themselves to me either. Nobody offered any help. When the final bell for next period rang I started to worry. I had no idea where to go, and now no one to show me around as the halls quickly emptied. Just as I was starting to seriously panic I saw a big guy rush around the corner, looking up and down the hall. When he saw me he smiled and jogged over. I couldn't help but stare at the guy. He was somewhere around 6 foot 5 and.. Well… huge. He wasn't like your tall twig person.. His entire body was proportionate to his height. He was just.. Massive. He had a thick chinstrap of facial hair tracing his jaw, a piercing in his lip, and his eyebrow. He had glasses and short black hair spiked up. He was wearing a t-shirt, and I noticed that he had tattoos on both of his arms.

As he came jogging over I nearly wet myself. I thought I was going to get creamed, but just as I squeezed my eyes shut, expecting to get tossed in a garbage can or some other bully cliché, he reached out his hand with a smile and spoke to me. `Hey, I'm Scott. Vic asked me to take you to gym with me.``

I breathed a sigh of relief, and was sure he noticed as I heard him chuckle under his breath. He asked me if I had gym clothes and I shook my head no. he said it was no problem, and motioned for me to follow him. We went to the office, and he talked to the secretary. He handed over a 10 dollar bill and she handed over a pair of black shorts and a white t-shirt vacuum packed in plastic with the school's coat of arms stamped on them.

"Here. Thy forget to tell grade 9`s that they have to buy their gym uniform nowadays. So this one is on me kid." the guy said kindly. I took the bag, and then followed him to the gym. When we entered the change room it was already empty, and I was absolutely terrified that I was going to be in trouble for being late. Obviously sensing my fear Scott turned around and explained that he would explain it to the coach, and make sure I didn't take any flak. He opened one of the lockers, and offered to let me put my stuff in with his. I gratefully accepted, tossing my binder in, and ripping open the plastic on my gym uniform. As Scott took his shirt off to get changed I noticed that the tattoos on his arms weren't his only ones. He had two more on his left bicep, one on his right, and 2 on his back. When he changed into his shorts I could see another one on each of his legs. I had never seen a tattoo in person before and I thought they were so cool. I stood there in my own little world, looking at them and wondering how much they must have hurt.

"Hey come on, hurry up," he said noticing me staring at his large back piece of some snake haired lady. "hehe. You like it? Pretty cool huh. I got a total 13 of them." he said as he tossed his shirt on.

"That's cool. Did they hurt?" I asked, quickly following suit and changing into my gym uniform.

"Nah, not really." he said, holding open the gym door for me letting me step out first.

"Better late than never guys come on Scott. You know the rules. 2 laps for every minute you miss of my class. You guys missed 10 minutes so your doing 20 laps."

"Hey come on Coach. Give the kid a break, its his first day" Scott pleaded my defence.

"Well if that's how you feel, you can run his 20 too," the coach said. Scott shrugged, apparently not caring, but I didn't want him to get in more trouble cuz of me.

"No its okay, I'll run my laps. Its my fault too," I said.

Scott leaned over and whispered to me. "Hey bud, you didn't have to do that, I don't mind running at all,"

"Its no big," I said. Little did he know I secretly hated running laps. I could do it and everything… I just preferred not to.

"Well then I guess I can enjoy the company. You're not to bad for a little niner," he said as he started to jog around the gym, me keeping pace close behind.

"What grade are you in?" I asked out of curiosity.

"Twelve. Well I should have graduated already actually. I turn 18 in a couple months, but I failed kindergarten. I know, sad right? " he laughed poking fun at himself.

"Well the alphabet is quite challenging you know…" I joked, getting a loud laugh from Scott.

"You're pretty funny too you know that kid? I like you. What's your name?"

"Leo"

"Well Leo, you got any plans for lunch?"

"Umm… not really why?"

"Well me and a couple of friends are gonna drive down to the little diner on main street. I figured you might wannna come, make some new friends. Vic will be there, so I'm sure no one would mind having you around. Plus I figure if you make friends with a couple seniors… your high school career will be a synch. Whaddya say?"

I couldn't believe it. In one day I went from being the nobody little twerp who everybody picked on, to being invited to go to lunch with a bunch of seniors? I mean just right now I was talking to a guy 4 years older than me, and he thought I was totally cool. What did I say "That sounds great!" I beamed. I was so happy.

After we finished our laps Scott and I got put with a group consisting of an even split between 10's and 11's. Unlike in Math we were getting right into the semesters work , and the first sport we were studying was tennis. We had been sectioned into smaller groups to run our own practice doubles tournaments. My group decided it was only fair that each grade 10 be paired with a grade 11, and I be paired with Scott, that way the average of skill on every team pretty well evened out.

Scott and I kind of sucked at the game, but we had fun. Well, not so much We sucked as I did. Bad. For the first half of the game I stood in the back, but seeing as I had no idea what I was doing I could rarely hit the ball, and when I did, it never often made it far enough to clear the net. When we switched it wasn't much better. Up front I would always step in front of Scott trying to get the ball, so he couldn't see, and the odd time I did hit it I hit it too far. Needless to say we got stomped, but we had fun. A few times I ran full tilt into Scott, bouncing off him like a wall, and once I tripped and got tangled in the net. The other team seemed irritated and rolled their eyes, but Scott just chuckled. Luckily he didn't care we never scored a point.

When the bell rang Scott got me to help him go around to the other teams in our group and get their scores, and write them down on a sheet, as the mini tournament was to last all week. We were the only team to not score a single point. Neither of us cared. Since we had been late we helped the coach gather up some of the equipment before finally heading to the change room.

It was about half empty when we walked in, and those that were still in there were dressed, and simply gathering their stuff from their lockers.

"Oh shoot. I forgot to ask if u had any money for lunch." feeling a little dejected I realized I didn't. There goes my plan of making friends with seniors I thought. Scott noticed though and quickly chimed in. "Hey its no big deal. I invited you. I'll get Vic to chip in a couple bucks and we'll get you something to eat. No worries," he smiled grabbing a white towel from his locker and stripping his shorts and boxers. I was quite surprised at this needles to say, and was a little shocked as he was standing there in front of me, buck naked. He didn't seem to notice as he leisurely wrapped the towel around his waist. He looked at me puzzled for a moment before seeming to realise something.

"Right. Umm.. Well we shower after gym.. But I mean its your first day so your probably a little shy. Here," he said, handing me a can from his locker. "Spray a little under each arm, and some on your chest. You can use that after gym to cover up your BO till your comfortable showering. We'll be sharing this locker all semester… its one of the shortcomings of the PE budget, so it's always on the top shelf there Kay?" he said. He didn't wait for an answer, and instead just walked towards the shower, lightly whistling. "I'll be out in about 5 minutes, you can get changed and wait for me and we'll go meet everyone else for lunch.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's note: So, you totally wondered when it was gonna happen didn't you!? Yep, the gay hits the fan in this chapter. Its kind of rushed because of time skips. Sorry bout the cliffhanger, it just fit so perfectly. Please Review, I need to know if this is actually decent lol, and above all else. ENJOY PLEASE!!!

As I heard the shower turn on I slowly peeked around the corner. I watched a Scott removed his towel, hanging it up on the wall, and stepping under the stream of water. I stood there mesmerized, watching his gorgeous body as he washed himself. My eyes were soon drawn to what hung between his legs, and boy did it hang. Even flaccid as it was now, he had to have been at least 5 or 6 inches in length, and it was so thick. I suddenly got nervous and ducked my head back behind the wall. My heart beating thirty miles an hour I asked myself what the hell I was doing. Why was I watching him shower? Why was I enjoying watching him shower? Why did I want to take another look?

Tentatively I peeked my head back around the corner, to see that this time he was staring directly at me. My heart instantly leapt into my throat and I froze in fear. I was dead. I was so freaking dead. Scott didn't move though, instead he opened his mouth and spoke… but his voice, and what he said, caught me off guard.

"Hey twerp wake up its time for school" he said in a voice that wasn't his.

"What?" I asked, my fear slipping away a little as it gave way to confusion.

"Come on get up your going to miss the bus" he continued, but before I could inquire further, Scott seemed to dissolve in front of me, and the whole world seemed to shake around me.

My eyes snapped open to look up at Steven, violently shaking me out of my slumber. "Get up!!! If you don't get ready this minute I'll beat you senseless, kid!"

"Uh, sorry. I'll get ready," I said groggily getting up as Steven left my room. My mind immediately went back to my dream. What the heck was up with that? Why had I dreamed about Scott showering? I already new the answer deep down, but I didn't want to admit it. I couldn't admit it. There was no way I was gay.. Was there?

As I quickly jumped into the shower, my mind raced through the dream once again. I found myself slowly getting hard and quickly tried to think of something else. I knew it was true. I was gay. And what was worse, I was very attracted to my new best friend, a guy who was 4 years older than me. I had finally found friends and been accepted, even if they were older than me… but now I was the odd one out once again.

It was fine though. I'd just get past it. No one else had to know. It would be my little secret. I mean, after all, I had just had the best week of my life. Ever since lunch on my first day of high school, things had been looking up. I had made a bunch of new friends. Well, I guess I should recap first.

So when Scott went to shower, I didn't really follow him and watch. In fact at the time it hadn't really crossed my mind. Instead I used the deodorant spray he had tossed me, and quickly got dressed. I was tone in a couple seconds, so while I waited for Scott to finish showering I decided to try and get a head start on my Math work. I always had been a pretty dedicated student. I sat on a bench in the corner and quickly did the assigned work, not even noticing when Scott came out from the shower and got dressed. I also didn't notice when he finished getting his dress and walked over, standing in front of me, waiting for me to notice him.

Still engrossed in my work I was startled when Scott cleared his throat. "Are you really doing homework now? Come on bud. I gotta grab my jacket from my locker and then we gotta pick up Vic from his Student Council meeting" I nodded in understanding and quickly gathered my stuff, jogging to keep pace with Scott in the halls. We stopped at his locker as Scott grabbed a nice leather jacket, throwing it over his shirt. We swung by some office room that Vic was waiting outside of, and then headed down to the parking lot, where we loaded into a bright yellow mustang Shelby GT 500, with twin black racing stripes down the center.

"Wow! Who's car is that!?" I asked.

"Mine, It's an early birthday present from my parents. My dad's a partner at this major law firm downtown, and my Mom owns her own small business."

"Wow," was all I replied with. I seemed as if it was the only word I knew how to say . It was a short drive to where we were eating lunch, and along the way we blasted lots of loud music. I loved it. If this was what high school was really like, I was going to enjoy it. We got to the diner and Vic and Scott split on my meal. I met all their friends, and all of them seemed to like me. The rest of the week had progressed in pretty much the same way. I settled in to a routine in all my classes, and became really close to Scott. He was really cool and nice, and actually seemed to enjoy hanging out with me. This had all lead to my dream last night. I didn't let it get me down though, and instead just suffered in silence.

And I went on suffering in silence for the next couple of years. A lot of people noticed how popular I was among the older kids, so I never really got bullied anymore. Grade 9 turned out to be the best school year yet. Grade 10 was pretty much the same. I was worried to begin with that I wouldn't see Scott anymore, but it turned out that he actually had to come back another year, because he was missing some credits he needed. So we still hung out every day, he came over to my house a lot, and I went over to his place. Every weekend I was invited to the coolest parties, by the most popular people in school. By the time I got to Grade 11 I was popular by my own rite. I had tons of friends, and hadn't been bullied in a long time.

Scott had gone away to college, but he still kept in touch with me. While he was on break he came home, and would make a point of hanging out with me. The dreams and fantasies about him had continued, and actually intensified, but he still had no idea how I felt. If he did I didn't think we would still be such close friends.

This brings us just about to present time, and to the time when I realized once again that I was different. It had been a few months since Scott and I had gotten a chance to talk, and my life had kind of taken a turn for the hectic. I was now in grade twelve, and stuff like college and grades and exams and real life were really stressing me out. Luckily at home things were a lot better. My older brothers hadn't tormented me in a long time, due mostly to the fact that I had actually become more popular then them by now. Chuck and Steven had moved out to go to college, but Kyle still lived at home, going to nearby community college.

On the day in question they had all come home for the weekend in order to celebrate my 18th birthday. I had actually turned 18 on Thursday, but we held off celebrating until everyone could get here to join in. Luckily the weekend of my party was just before Spring Break. Chuck and Steven had managed to fly home Friday night in order to come home early.

Now don't get me wrong I was happy that they were home for my birthday, but I was really looking forward to the first day of Spring Break. Scott was coming home again and we had planned months ago to hang out when he got back.

I was awoke rudely Saturday morning by violent shaking. I opened my eyes to see all three of my older brothers shaking me awake. "Happy Birthday Twerp!" they all said, re-adopting my old nickname. They tossed all kinds of confetti and glitter at me before spraying me with cans of silly string. We all just laughed before thy got off of me. Like I said things had gotten a lot better between my brothers and I. Unlike the torment I had endured when I was younger, this was just light hearted fun.

"Come on, hurry up and get dressed, Chuck, Steven and I cooked up a special surprise for you downstairs."

I really didn't feel like getting out of my bed. It was so warm and comfortable that I wished I could just lay there all day. But I knew I had to get up. I could already smell the bacon and eggs my dad was cooking for our large family breakfast. I showered quickly, and got dressed in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, and thundered down the stairs, taking them two at a time. I reached the bottom, and heard Chuck call me from the kitchen. "In here twerp! You're surprise is waiting!" I heard him chuckle. I stepped into the kitchen and saw everyone sitting at the table save for my dad. I didn't notice however, that there were three empty places at the table instead of only two, and before I had a chance to notice, a pair of hands wrapped around my face from behind.

"Guess who short stuff," the all too familiar voice said. I would have known it anywhere. My heart skipped a beat as I realized my brothers had given me a pretty awesome surprise indeed. They had flown Scott home two weekends early so that he could come to this party.

"No way!" I said, pulling his hands off my face. "You flew home early!?"

"I couldn't miss your birthday party could I?" he said, giving me a friendly hug. Unfortunately the hug didn't last as long as I had hoped. It was a pretty decent day overall. After breakfast Scott, Chuck, Steven, Kyle, my Dad and I went down to the park to play a little three on three football. We decided it would be Kyle Dad and I, against Scott, Steve and Chuck.

For thee first little while we did pretty well. I played quarterback for my team, and for the first half was untouched. We completely whooped the other guys, and within 20 minutes had racked up three touchdowns, and they had gotten none.

After that though… the game didn't last long. We had taken a short break to rest, but once we came back I quickly dropped out of the game. It was on our first play. We had teased the guys about how badly they were playing,, and as a result they were holding a bit of a grudge. As soon as Kyle hiked the ball back to me all hell broke loose. Chuck and Steven ploughed over Dad and Kyle with relative ease, and Scott barrelled straight toward me. He leapt forward and took me down hard, landing on top of me with his whole body pressing me down. At first I was shocked, but once I realized I was laying there with Scott's body pressed on top of me, I quickly turned red. A deep blush covered my whole body and I feared I was only seconds away from getting hard and revealing my heavily guarded secret. He got off of me laughing.

"I got you good huh?" he said offering to help me up. I took his hand, but quickly let go. He looked at me funny, and I wouldn't return the stare. "You okay?" he asked stepping closer.

I backed away, holding a hand up to stop him. "Ya. Just a little whiplash is all. I think I hit my head a little hard" I lied. "I think I'm going to head home guys, relax a bit before supper, kay?" I said to everyone.

"I'll go with you," Scott offered.

"No, you don't have to come, stay here and have fun," I suggested.

"I came here to hang out with you," he explained with a shrug.

It went against my better judgement, but I let him come back with me. We only lived like a half block from the park, so the walk back took no time at all. We got back, said hi to my mom cooking dinner, and went up to my room. We turned some music on,, and pushed the door most of the way closed so the sound didn't echo through the whole house. Then I flipped the television on and we settled in to play some Call of Duty on my PS3. After and hour or so we got bored, so we went down to the kitchen and helped finish up dinner. Afterwards I opened my birthday gifts. I got a bunch of new clothes, and a new video game. Then Scott handed me the present he got me.

"Alien Resurrection!!!?? Finally!!" I cheered. The Alien series were my favourite movies in the world.. I had every single movie except one. The one Scott had just bought me.

"So you like it then?" he asked with a grin.

"I love it!!" I said excitedly, "We totally have to have an Alien marathon tonight!" I said, knowing full well that Scott was also a big fan of the series.

"Sure," he said with a smile.

With that Scott and I adjourned to my room. We both changed into a baggy t-shirt and a pair of pj pants, and lounged on my bed to begin our movie marathon. "Just like old times eh? Watching movies together all night long?"

"Ya. I missed this." Scott said, laying his head against the headboard. I laid beside him, and started the first movie. We lay there and watched, chatting during some of the slow parts, and becoming instantly quiet during the good parts. By the time the third movie had finished I was droopy eyed, and yawning like crazy. When I lay back down after switching the discs again, yawning once again, Scott rolled over onto his side. He put his hand on my chest and rubbed rapidly up and down, speaking in a baby voice to me.

"Aww, is somebody getting tired?" he laughed.

"Shut up," I whined pitifully , attempting to shake his hand off, but only managing to bring my face to rest against his chest. It was so comfortable that I didn't really want to move, and I was too tired to truly realize the implications of leaving my head resting on him. I was so tired that I didn't notice his hand had started to move back and forth again; slowly and gently moving up and down my chest.

What I did notice, was when all of a sudden Scott leaned in, and pressed his lips gently against mine. He paused there for a moment, and I leaned into the kiss, loving every minute of it. It wasn't until he pulled away a few seconds later that I realized what had happened. We both just stared at each other for a moment, and I was pretty sure the world was coming to an end in the next few minutes.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: Woot!! I gotted a review! And a fav! Thanks very much to AngelBadGirl247 for both J So in case you need a refresher, Scott just kissed Leo, and they both looked at each other in fear. What will happen next!?!? Not smex unfortunately. Not yet at least**

I'm not entirely sure which one of us made the next move first, but before I knew it Scott's lips were pressed against mine again, filled with much more urgency and need this time. He rolled himself so he was on top of me, pressing me into the bed as he had pressed me into the ground on the football field. He wrapped his big arms underneath me and brought me tighter to his body, deepening the kiss as I felt his tongue lash out and attempt to push past my lips. I didn't fight it, and our tongues smacked and rolled across each other, each fighting to gain entrance to the other moth, neither giving an inch. Finally I submitted, and allowed Scott to win, his tongue gliding gently across mine as it entered my mouth, slipping along the roof of my mouth, before sliding out as Scott broke the kiss.

We were both panting heavily, and due to him laying on top of me I could feel Scott was hard. He looked down at me for a minute, with pure lust in his eyes, before all of a sudden he seemed to realize what he had done. He looked ashamed of himself, and quickly got off me, moving to the end of the bed.

"I'm sorry… I don't know why I did that I…. I know your not.. That way.. I… I should probably go," he said pitifully. In all the years I had known him, Scott had never seemed so helpless, so…defeated. As he stood from the bed and moved to the door I rushed to follow. As his hand went to turn the doorknob I pressed my palm against the door, keeping it closed. He turned around confused.

"Did I ever say I didn't like it?" I asked. The pure look of shock on his face was almost enough to make me giggle.

"But.. What do you mean?"

"Scott I've been in love with you since the first day I met you," I explained sheepishly, a deepening red painting my cheeks. "I never told you because… I thought you'd hate me. I figured getting to be around you as a friend was better than not getting to be around you at all."

The most unexpected thing happened then. Scott actually laughed at me. After all these years I had finally confessed my feelings for the guy, and he laughed. What the hell was up with that.

"I wish I'd known," he said as he calmed down. "Because the reason I wanted to become friends wwith you in the first place… is cuz I thought you were absolutely adorable. I had the biggest crush on you that first day I came around the corner. I invited you to lunch because I wanted to feel like it was a date. You never made a move or anything, or showed any signals, so I figured you were straight, and that I had missed out," he said, his blush beginning to match mine.

"But.. I thought YOU were straight? " I exclaimed. "Whenever we met up to hang you were surrounded by tons of girls and everything, and you were also pretty close with them, hugging and holding hands and kissing." I asked, now thoroughly confused. He laughed again, which kind of annoyed me a little bit, but I simply waited for his explanation.

"Leo, I've known I was gay, and been out of the closet, since grade 10. I thought you knew actually. Those girls are just my friends, we were really close ya, but the kissing and hugging and everything, that was all just the high school games. I didn't want them so we teased the guys that did. The one I wanted was you."

I was stunned. I didn't now what to say. We just stood there for a moment, looking into each others eyes. Then finally I spoke. The words came soft and quiet, too afraid that this whole thing was a dream. "Well you can have me now…. If you still want me."

Now it was Scott's turn to be shocked. It didn't last long though. Almost immediately once I had gotten the words out, I felt one arm wrap around my waist, pulling me closer, while the other one wrapped around my shoulders. I felt Scott's lips brush against mine once again. It was less fevered and needy this time. Much softer, and loving. He pushed me forward, and we moved to the bed, laying down and cuddling as we gently kissed each other. When we finally broke for air, my whole body felt tired. I checked the clock, it was 4am.

"We better get some sleep," I said yawning. Scoott nodded, a yawn of his own escaping. We both stood up, and I pulled the covers on my bed back, as Scott moved to the door, in an attempt to head for the guest room. "Stay with me," I offered gently. He beamed and walked up behind me, hugging me as he softly kissed my neck.

"I thought you'd never ask," he said.

We crawled into bed together, pulling the covers up tight to our chins. I lay on my side facing away from the door, and Scott lay behind me. He laid an arm beneath my head, and wrapped the other around me pulling me close as he rubbed his nose and chin on my shoulders and back. I felt myself absolutely melt into his embrace. I was surrounded by his warmth, cuddled up so close to him the way I had always wanted. This was pure heaven. I let out a deep satisfied sigh.

"Love you," I said softly, but Scott was already gently snoring into the crook of my neck. I just let out a soft laugh, and soon joined him in slumber.

---*---

_"I told you. I totally knew it. You owe me 5 bucks,"_

_"I do not. That doesn't mean anything,"_

_"Doesn't mean anything? Are you blind, you saw it when we opened the door,"_

_"Maybe they fell asleep watching a movie and moved like that in their sleep,"_

_""Do you really believe that?"_

_"I dunno… I don't owe you 5 bucks, you're wrong."_

I woke to the sound of hushed whispers out in the hallway. I opened my eyes to see who it was, but could only see the wall… which was weird as I normally sleep facign the door. The next thing I noticed was there was something laying on top of me, and something pressed against me. For a minute I had no idea what was going on, then I realized it was Scott, his arm wrapped around me. I remembered the night before when I found out he had felt the same way as I did. I simply let out another happy sigh, and cuddled into him even more.

"Morning sleepy head," I heard him say as he softly kissed my neck.

"Mmmm. Morning," I replied, leaning into the soft peck.

_"Shhh! I think they're waking up,"_ one of the whispering voices said. It was quickly followed by footsteps down the hall.

"Who's that? What're they talking about?" I asked, still a little disoriented, and still wanting to stay asleep, wrapped up in my Scott cocoon.

"Umm…. Well. Does your family know your gay?"

"No… why do you ask? You want me tell them now that we're gonna be dating?" I asked. Now that I had Scott I really didn't mind. I knew my parents wouldn't care, and if my brothers had been friends with Scott knowing he was gay, they'd be fine with me.

"Well… if you don't soon you won't get a chance to…" Scott said, "That was Chuck and Steve. They came in to wake you up and saw us," Scott explained. The blood rushed to my face. Sure I didn't mind telling my family… but I had hoped I would be able to tell them myself… and not find out like this. I was going to die of embarrassment. I just sighed.

"Well I guess we better go down and explain then? Mom's probably almost done pancakes too," We both slide out of bed, and headed downstairs. When we reached the kitchen everyone was in there. Steve and Chuck looked at us with a knowing smirk but the rest just said good morning.

"Umm… Scott and I need to talk to you guys before breakfast," I said, causing every head to snap in our direction. Wow talk about pressure. My heart raced and my blood pressure spiked. I was about to collapse when I felt Scott step closer, placing an arm around my shoulder and rubbing gently, looking at me with a smile that said 'its okay, I'm here with you,' I took in a deep breathe before speaking. "Scott and I are dating," I said.

There was no shock. No big OMG moment. Nobody freaked out. Dishes stayed on the table, orange juice and coffee stayed in peoples mouths, nobody fell out of their chair. No, instead my mom just let out a relieved sigh.

"Well its about time," she said, hugging Scott and then me. "You two spent so much time together it was easy to tell you liked each other. I'm surprised it took this long for you both to admit it." She said kindly, setting a large platter of pancakes at the table. Chuck, Steve and Kevin all nodded as if saying 'No big', but my Dad just kept drinking his coffee. When all eyes turned to him he finally spoke.

Getting up from his chair he moved over to us, sticking a finger in Scott's face. "If you ever hurt my son, I swear to god you'll wish you were never born," he threatened darkly. The tension in the air was thick, and it had become a really awkward moment. Finally he broke into a soft smile. "But I know you better than that. Leo did good landing you. I'm glad he did," he laughed, giving Scott a man-hug.

The rest of breakfast, and indeed the rest of Scott's visit went without incident. He went back to school, and I found out I got accepted to every college I applied for. Deciding which one to go to was no hard task either. I had picked the night Scott and I had shared y bed. I was going to McAllister University, and moving in with Scott who went to Adam's College in the same town. He had found a house in his second ear, and had offered to let me move in. I had naturally said yes.

I hadn't seen Scott since his visit when we started dating, but we texted every day. I was heading into my last exam, looking forward to that night, when our graduation ceremony was happening… which Scott would be coming home for. He was already on the train heading down, and Kevin had offered to pick hi up at the station. Everything was looking good. I was happy. I didn't know at the time, that I wouldn't be attending my graduation ceremony. I didn't know at the time that my world was about to get flipped upside down.


	4. Chapter 4

Final exams had just finished up for the year, and I was doing the last of my packing. I tossed my DVD's into a box that was already filled with my Playstation 3 and all its games. As I pulled the mattress off my bed, sliding it into the hall, I felt a pair of hands grab me around the waist, as a body pressed against my back.

"Hey babe," I said with a smile as I spun around in Scott's arms to see him face to face. "You're early."

"Disappointed?"

""Never. Quite pleased actually," I answered, stealing a kiss.

"My jeep got fixed sooner than I thought, so I called Kevin and let him know I would just drive down. You need help packing anything else?" he asked sweetly, taking the mattress from me and lifting it off the ground, to be carried under his arm.

"Umm…. I don't think so. I got everything packed, the mattress has to go downstairs to the garage, but everything else can be loaded into your jeep." I answered.

Scott did as I had said and put the mattress in the garage. My parents were going to be using it for a guest bed. I didn't need it since I would be sharing Scott's kind size bed with him once I had moved in. When he came back we took turns running boxes down to the vehicle, and within half an hour were done. I took one last look at my now empty room. The same room I had been in for the past 18 years of my life. I couldn't believe I was leaving it. I took one last long look, and took the last box down to the jeep. Scott and my parents were all waiting there.

"Ya, its only about 2 hours both ways so we'll be back in plenty of time for graduation. I figure we're just gonna get dressed at the house and drive straight from there to the school here. We'll meet you guys probably half an hour before the ceremony?" Scott was saying to my Dad. He nodded, and handed Scott a 20 dollar bill for gas money.

"Well, I'm all ready to go," I said tentatively, as my parents turned to look in my direction. my mom's eyes were already starting to fill with tears as she stepped forward to hug me. Her arms wrapped tightly around my neck, slowly cutting off my air as I could feel tears soaking into my shirt.

"Mom, its okay. its not like I'm dying. I'm only gonna be 2 hours away, I'll come home to visit I promise." I said, trying to pry her away gently. Even though we weren't related by blood, my step-mother and I had grown really close. She had always treated me like I was her own son, and I was the baby. Now I was leaving the nest, and whether she had given birth to me or not, it hurt her to see me go.

When my dad stepped over and placed a hand on his shoulder she finally released me, and took a step back. Placing his hands on my shoulders my Dad looked down at me, and spoke in the most caring tone I had ever heard him adopt. "You take care of yourself, I mean it. There's a lot of…stuff in the world… stuff you need to protect yourself from… just…be careful…please. Scott can't protect you from everything…. There's some stuff your gonna have to face yourself.. he can help you…but you're gonna have to rely on yourself…so please just… be ready."

"What do you mean?" I asked, thoroughly confused by the garbled mess of a sentence my father had just shoved down my throat. A look of worry flashed across his face, but he said no more, just shook his head gently.

"I…I can't tell you… it'll just make things worse for you…" he said just as mysteriously as before. I didn't have time to dwell on his cryptic message, because Scott had already started the jeep, and leaned out the window to call for me.

"Let's go or we're gonna be late babe," I nodded and jogged over, jumping into the jeep. With a final wave we were off. It was a long time, and we just listened to music most of the way. After about an hour and a half though, Scott turned the music down. So when we get to the house, We're gonna carry you're stuff straight down to the basement. That's our room. Its actually 3 separate rooms, a bedroom living room and bathroom. it has its own entrance too. Since I'm paying the most in rent, I got to take it for us, so it'll be like our own apartment in the house."

Scott had went together with a few of his friends to get this place. It was a 5 bedroom house, and there would be a total of 7 people living there. Scott and I would get the basement, and have the most room to ourselves. The only thing we'd have to share with everyone else is the kitchen and laundry room.

"So who else is gonna be living there?" I asked.

"Well there's this girl Alyshia that I have psyche with. Her best friend Dianne. There's Daryl and Martin sharing a room. They're both geniuses and only 12 years old. And finally, its supposed to be a surprise, but Kyle's gonna be living there too, he's got the loft."

"No way!" I said, a smile spreading across my face. Kyle and I were pretty close, and I was totally excited that I would still get to see him all the time. As I let this little bit of news sink in, we pulled into the driveway and I got my first look at our new house. It was huge. It was a 1600 square foot Craftsman style home. It had a finished basement, a main floor with 3 bedrooms, a modern kitchen, laundry room, dining room, Den and living room, and a bathroom. Above that were two twin loft rooms. one was Kyle's, and the other was for storage.

"We'll go in the front door so you can meet everyone, but our door is over there," Scott said pointing to the side of the house. "We can come and go without bothering everyone else if we want." with that Scott turned the door knob and opened the door. he kicked his shoes off inside the door and called out asking if anyone was there. A soft feminine voice drifted from the room to our left (the kitchen) and was followed shortly by the girl who it belonged to. She was a short pretty girl with long scarlet hair. She wore a medium length brown skirt, a blue and white striped tank top, and blue eye shadow. She had a wide smile on her face as she gave Scott a friendly hug, the top of her head barely reaching his shoulders.

"Who's this?" she asked, nodding towards me.

"This is my boyfriend Leo I told you about. The one who's moving in. Leo this is Alyshia" Scott said.

"Nice to meet you," I said extending my hand to shake. With a wide smile Alyshia took it, but the second our hands met the smile dropped from her face, and she snapped her hand away as if she had just dipped it in boiling water. A look of fear and anger spread across her face as she looked at Scott, and she took a step back from me. Scott looked at her with a look of confusion for a moment, before looking at me and seeming to understand her sudden reaction. Nice of them to let me in on the secret.

With a look of worry Scott asked me to start carrying my stuff downstairs, and to start unpacking, and told me he'd be down in a little while. As I went to leave the house I saw him move into the kitchen with Alyshia, and could hear Alyshia talking in a harsh whisper.

2 hours later I had all my stuff unpacked. Everything was set up where it needed to be, and I was relaxing on Scott's couch.. our couch… and had set up my Playstation and put in Alien already, settling in to watch. Still no sign of Scott, but I could hear muffled voices upstairs, one of which I could tell was Scott's. Once the movie was about half over, Scott finally came downstairs.

"Hey stranger, took you long enough. I'm all done already,"

"Ya, sorry," Scott said sheepishly, "There's umm… something we gotta talk about,"

The look on his face made my stomach turn to lead. Whatever he wanted to discuss clearly wasn't good.

"O…kay," I said a little worried.

"Its nothing bad… kind of… but… it is gonna make your life a lot harder…"

"What do you mean?" I asked, becoming more and more confused.

Scott let out an exasperated sigh. He ran his fingers through his hair, looking at his feet for a minute. "Alright… this is gonna sound crazy but you have to believe me… See…" He let out another deep sigh. "Have you ever seen something, or had something happen to you, that you just couldn't explain no matter what? All the phenomenon in the world that catch everyone's attention. Big foot, the Loch Ness monster. magicians and illusionists. Ghosts, spectres… well… they're all real. Very real."

It took a second before I laughed. It was definitely an odd joke he was playing, and I wasn't sure I got it just yet, but I started to laugh. oddly enough, this just elicited a deep sigh from him, as Scott stood up. "Real funny. Now where's the punchline,"

"There is no punchline. But I guess I'm gonna have to show you for you to believe me."

That's the day I watched my boyfriend burst into flames.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: _Alrighty! Now we get to the nitty gritty of the story. The actual stuff I wanted to get to where we can actually start seeing conflicts, and some actions, and interesting stff! Yayz! Sorry for the long delay but I figured putting 2 chapters up in one night kinda makes up for it a bit? Please read and review, cuz this is where I really want opinions. I threw a lot at you guys in this chapter… hope you are okay with digesting it. This is where the mythology part comes in._**

I scrambled over the top of the couch, ducking behind it as I watched Scott burst into flames. I kept my eyes on him, and saw the fire quickly die away as a look of concern crossed his face. He moved over to where I was and wrapped an arm around me. His body felt warm to the touch.

"What… what just happened?" I asked cautiously.

"Its like I tried to tell you. There's a lot more going on in this world than most people realize. There are powers at work, that ordinary people don't understand. Powers that people like myself possess. Powers… that you possess."

I was shocked. I knew for damn sure he had to have snapped, because I didn't have any kind of powers. I was pretty average. Their was nothing special or mystical about me. "What are you talking about? I'm just me. There's nothing special about me." I said.

"There is. I'm not the one who can explain it though. I can only give you the basic run down. We need to go see Alyshia in the loft."

"Why?"

"You'll find out after. First, I think you should sit down, this is gonna take a little while." With that, Scott began to explain to me this other hidden world. All the mystical, mythical, magical things that humans had come up with over the years… were real, and still are. Beyond the regular world most people see there is a deep current of magic. Usually it stays in the wild, creating creatures of lore. Some people however, develop a link to this magic at birth. They're sort of like a subspecies of human, known as a Mystic. It turns out that Mystics had been around since the dawn of time. Nearly 40 percent of the human population was believed to be Mystic, whether they had yet to realize it or not. See, there are only 12 ways that magic can manifest itself. 12 different powers.. Classes if you will. Each with a unique ability and skill. Some Mystics even had 2 different classes of magic though it was rare, and only twice in history a Mystic has been documented with 3 classes. Now, normally the powers begin to manifest at the onset of puberty. When they did a Mystic of a special class would need to be found to do a reading to find which class the new Mystic was in, so he or she could properly train and control their powers. Under normal circumstances a Mystic who did not receive a Gift Reading by the age of 18, would be completely consumed by the uncontrolled magic, and become a Shadow. Shadows are very dangerous to Mystics because they are attracted to the scent created when magic mixes with human blood. The older a shadow the more powerful it is. They feed on the souls of Mystics, and do not die of natural causes. Apparently they're not the only danger either. Many forms of magical creatures like the taste of Mystic blood, or Mystic flesh. Which was, y'know, awesome for me, having just found out I am apparently a Mystic, as was explained to me through this whole lecture. It was a lot to take in, and I wasn't quite understanding one thing.

"So… if I'm a Mystic or whatever… how come I haven't turned into a Shadow yet? Why is this the first I'm hearing of any of this?"

"Well… a Mystic can only be born to a Mystic mother. In normal cases the mother is the first one to break the news about the world of Magic. They are the one to either do the Gift Reading if able, or to set it up."

A glimmer of comprehension dawned on me, "But my Mother died before she could be sure whether or not I'd develop into a Mystic?"

"Yes and no," Scott replied, another worried look crossing his face. "See, it appears that your mother was an extremely powerful Mystic, and could sense the magic growing within you long before anyone else would have been able to. She was one of the two-class. She was what we call a Cleric, but she was also a Reader. A Cleric casts protection and banishment magic. Before she died, your mother cast one last spell, a protection barrier on you. It kept your magic from manifesting until someone met you who could sense the spell, and undo it. That person would be able to teach you what you needed to know, and protect you from becoming a shadow. Unfortunately your luck didn't turn out so well… Your mother didn't expect you would already be 18 by the time you finally met a Reader. The spell won't last forever, and within the next week or so, you won't be protected. If by then you haven't had a Gift Reading to let the magic choose a class to settle into… you'll turn into a shadow."

"So.. How do I get a Reading then? And once I have this reading and the spell is undone, won't that mean that my magic will be able to be detected so.. I'll be like a walking target?" I asked, suddenly worried. Confused. Nauseous.

"Not necessarily. Some classes have such low magic levels that shadows and other magic creatures never bother with them. But even if you have a high magic class like mine, everyone at the house here is a Mystic, and the house itself is under a Barrier spell. Kyle inherited your mother's Cleric class, and its his barrier spell. Any being that has even the tiniest bit of magic in them, won't make it in unless he wants them to. That'll give us the chance to teach you how to use your powers enough to defend yourself… and until your strong enough to hold your own against a shadow, I'm not letting you out of my sight."

I smiled. I had just had a lot dumped on me. I wasn't exactly human. Neither was my brother. Or my boyfriend. But I was oddly okay with it. Somehow it seemed right. "Alright, so the Reading?"

Scott took me by the hand and led me up to the loft room. Not Kyle's, but the storage one. He opened the door, and I saw that it was definitely not a storage room. It was a large empty room, with some sort of ritual 12 point star painted on the ground. 4 coloured circles laid on top of the innermost intersections of the star's lines. In the middle was a small golden bowl with odd markings on it, and a black liquid inside. On the far side of the bowl sat Alyshia cross legged, one of her fingers tracing circles in the dark liquid. She looked up as we entered the room, and her eyes were pure white. Not gonna lie, it freaked me out a bit, and I'm positive Scott felt me tense, because he gently squeezed my hand as if to let me know it was okay.

"Sit down in front of the bowl, directly across from her," Scott directed me. I did as ordered. "Hold out your right hand, palm up, then your left." I did so, and as I held my right hand up, Alyshia gently grabbed it, tracing one of those odd markings on my palm, using the dark liquid. She did the same with the left.

"Now take bother her hands in yours, and hold them over the bowl." As I did this, Scott came to sit behind me, his legs stretched out on either side of me. His arms stretched out, and held mine gently at the wrists. His thumbs rubbed gently on my skin… he seemed anxious about something. Then Alyshia began to speak in a language I didn't understand. It was a low rumbling chant, and listening to it made my head feel fuzzy and my mind drift off. I had a hard time focusing on everything the room swirling around me. I could feel my hands on Alyshia's. I could feel Scott's hands on mine. I could feel the liquid markings on my palms as they began to itch. Quickly the itch became more intense, it was an unbearable burning sensation now. It felt as if my hands were on fire, and my face contorted in pain as I could feel my skin blistering and cracking where the liquid marks were. I gritted my teethe harder, I stared directly into Alyshia's cold white eyes. I could hear Scott's voice softly in my ear. "You're almost there babe. Hang in there a little bit longer. You can do it," and in an instant the pain was over. With a blink Alyshia's eyes had returned to normal, and her hands had broken away from mine. As they did the bowl beneath our hands burst into blue flames, as did the markings on my hand. I didn't have the chance to freak out though, as Scott's hands quickly grabbed mine… and turned see through…wait what?…my hands were inside Scott's. His seemed to be… made of water. The burning feeling stopped and I sagged backwards into Scott's body, as his hands became solid once again. I felt his lips brush my cheek, as I watched the fire in the bowl slowly die away.

Once it had gone I noticed for the first time that in the bottom of the bowl were a bunch of rocks. They were all glowing red hot now. One of them near the center quickly cooled back to a dull grey, and floated to the surface, were Alyshia plucked it from the strange liquid (which I hoped to never see again). She examined a marking on the rock, before passing it to me.

"You are the Warrior. Skilled in combat and weaponry. The deadliest class of Mystic, and among the easiest to blend among society. Low magic class." I looked down at the stone, where a single rune (which I recognized from an ancient history class, but could not read) was glowing blue. I felt Scott shift behind me, and I turned to get up with him but stopped when I suddenly felt his body tense. I looked up at his face and saw a curious look roll across his features. Following his gaze I turned to look at the bowl once again, which had now become consumed by fire once again, this time a deep green. When it died, another stone floated to the surface.

"It seems you are also gifted as the Healer. Mid level magic class."

She barely had time to hand me the stone before the bowl had burst into flames a third time. This time a blood red color. Scott tensed behind me, and I saw Alyshia do the same.

"There's gotta be a mistake right?" Scott asked, his voice a mix of worry and awe.

"No. The reading is infallible. It appears Leo has three powers."

And just like that I was the odd man out again. It wasn't bad enough to be a social outcast. It wasn't bad enough being gay. Hell apparently it wasn't even bad enough being some magic filled weirdo called a Mystic. No. I had to be different even among the different. When the third stone rose to the surface I just glared at it. I didn't care what it had to tell me anymore.

"The Avatar. Master of the elements. High level magic. Same class as Scott." Well that made me smile a little bit, and I could tell it made Scott smile as well. We were the same. Well partly. I mean, apparently I was also a Healer and Warrior.. But hey we had one shared power. That was good right? Come to think of it I was unsure if Scott only had one power… I would have to ask him later.

A burst of purple flame interrupted my thought, and immediately I felt all color drain from my face. Looking across the bowl Alyshia looked equally pale.

"Umm… what?" I asked, in a worried tone.

"It looks like your truly special Leo. No one has ever received four gifts before."

"Yay me," I said, sarcasm dripping from every syllable. Picking the stone out of the water Alyshia handed it to me. I wanted to throw the little bastard out the window. Different among the different.

"You are also a Summoner. Able to call magical creatures to your aid. High level magic"

"Alrighty, well can we please be done now, before any more rocks try and pop out of there? I was good with one… now I got 4." I said, holding all four small rocks in my palm. Each one had a glowing rune of a different color. Blue, Green, Red, and Purple. Warrior, Healer, Avatar, and Summoner. I was the first Mystic in all of history whose magic manifested into 4 gifts. Two of my gifts were high in magic, meaning I would radiate a stupidly powerful magical aura, and all kinds of creatures would be looking to chomp on me. I would have to learn to control the powers of all 4 classes before I could even be safe outside of my own home without protection. I was in for one hell of a summer.


End file.
